Trout and Heather

Trout & Heather were married by a Wizard, a Witch and a Nun. They complement each other in an extraordinary way. They share an eclectic art & craft business that merges into lifestyle and leisure.

Trout has held a lifelong interest in fishing. He loves being able to walk out the gate and down fishing at the river in 15 minutes.

The Waipawa River regularly provides for the dinner table. Heathers wood shavings are an ideal fuel for the fish smoker. When we first met Trout he generously sent us home with a parcel of freshly smoked trout garnished with watercress.

He has collected antique fishing equipment & memorabilia for many years. Realising that this material is of interest to a great many people, he began to assemble his fishing installations.

They are composed of a selection of items such as fly wallets, fly reels, old lures, silk lines, gut casts, brass reels, fly vices, fly tying equipment & bamboo rods.

They have proved much sought after, not only by keen fishermen & collectors of memorabilia, but others who recognise their artistry & hold nostalgia for the fine traditions of the past.

Former owner of the very successful Oxus Antiques in Queenstown, Trout now consolidates his energies on his fishing interests, conducting considerable research from the banks of the Waipawa River.

Trout enjoys taking people camping on the river. It is a therapy, the water is a great healer. He says “you can relax around a campfire” Heather adds “with a few whiskeys if your want.”



Heather has worked with wood for many years. Training initially as a joiner, she became interested in hand tools & traditional ways of working with wood. She built her first pole lathe in 1999 & began making treenware.

A pole lathe is the earliest way of doing woodturning. It is beauty in its simplicity, operated by a treadle, with a springy pole providing the return. Treen is the old English word for tree, & treenware is anything made from a single piece of wood for domestic use.

This combination of pole & treen lead to a specialisation in spoons. Heather has developed many beautiful & useful spoon designs; Olive spoons and Ladles. The bowls of the spoons are carved with handtools, in a variety of fruit & nut woods.

Baby spoons ideal for feeding and especially good for teething babies to rub on their gums.